Max Verstappen suffers a power issue in Q3 that leaves him 10th on the grid, while Sergio Perez eliminated in Q2 on a bad day for Red Bull; Watch the Hungarian GP live on Sky Sports F1 from 12.30pm on Sunday, with lights out at 2pm
Sunday 31 July 2022 08:10, UK
World Championship leader Max Verstappen says the "glitch" on his Red Bull that resulted in him only qualifying tenth for the Hungarian GP is not a "big issue".
Verstappen, who goes into Sunday's race with a 63-point lead over Ferrari's Charles Leclerc at the top of the drivers' standings, had appeared to be one of several drivers in with a chance of pole at the Hungaroring as a wide-open qualifying session reached its climax.
However, after a poor first run that only left him seventh, Verstappen reported a power issue on the out-lap of his second run that the team were unable to fix in time for him to attempt another full-speed effort.
That left Mercedes' George Russell to take the first pole position of his F1 career, sensationally topping the Ferraris of Carlos Sainz and Leclerc.
"I don't think it was a big issue but it wasn't something we could solve on track basically," Verstappen said.
"It is very unfortunate."
Verstappen had seemed unlikely to contend for pole for much of the weekend, with Ferrari's edge over Red Bull on Friday leading the Dutchman to admit it would be "hard" to beat the Italian team in Budapest.
However, with previously unseen dry yet cooler conditions for qualifying, the Red Bull suddenly seemed capable of competing.
Verstappen looked quick in Q1 and topped the timesheet in Q2, despite team-mate Sergio Perez's recent poor form continuing as he made a surprise early exit.
"I think the turnaround from yesterday was amazing," Verstappen said. "That was the positive about today, we understood what went wrong and the car was so much better today in terms of handling on a track which doesn't really suit us.
"But, of course, I would have still liked to start in the top three and I definitely think we had the pace for it because in Q2 we looked very strong comfortably.
"So a good turnaround but unfortunately the little glitch we had makes us start 10th."
It will be the first time Verstappen has started outside the top four this season, and with overtaking notoriously tricky at the Hungaroring, he faces a major challenge to limit the damage Ferrari will be able to inflict.
"It can be a tough one if you are stuck but I hope not too long," he added. "We just have to stay calm and wait for our moment to go forwards.
"It depends also a bit what is happening in front of you, also behind you and be flexible."
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner admitted that having both cars starting from the middle of the field was far from ideal, but like Verstappen, was encouraged by their pace.
"It was very unfortunate," Horner said of his team's qualifying. "We lost Checo in Q2, he got in a bit of traffic at Turn 2 and then, actually, Max felt a lot more comfortable with the balance of the car today and I think we were in with a shot of the pole.
"A lock up on the first run into Turn 2 immediately put us on the back foot but we still felt confident we could have a crack at it but then unfortunately a power-related issue on his out lap.
"He was obviously trying to reset sensors and so on to cure it but unfortunately it wasn't to be.
"No representative time in Q3 for Max and 10th and 11th on the grid so it is going to be a busy race tomorrow, but congrats to George Russell on his first pole, that was a pretty tidy lap."
For Perez, Saturday's qualifying was the latest example in recent weeks of the Mexican failing to keep pace with his team-mate, with talk of a title challenge earlier in the season now a distant memory.
There was confusion as his first lap in Q2 was deleted for a breach of track limits, before being reinstated after he had emerged for his next run.
The first lap wasn't good enough in any case, leaving him needing a clean run on his second attempt. He was denied that as the Haas of Kevin Magnussen obstructed him in Turn 2, causing the loss of crucial time, according to Perez.
"It was very unfortunate because I lost out by a few tenths," he said.
"In Q3 it was a few hundredths, then going into Turn 2 I lost a lot with Kevin, a few tenths.I had to go very deep on the corner and I just couldn't recover afterwards.
"Hopefully we are able to come back strong tomorrow."
